OF THE VINE. 11 



promote the vigor of the vine. In digging up a 

 grape root two years since which had been planted 

 near a few bones, I was surprised to see the avidity 

 with which the roots sought after them. Every 

 bone was literally covered with a network of fibrous 

 roots; the cavity of each was filled with them, 

 so that it was impossible to remove them, with- 

 out tearing the roots in pieces. This vine had been 

 remarkable for its rapid growth, and dark foliage. 



In April, 1854, 1 planted on my place in Windsor 

 about fifty grape roots, mostly Isabella, with a few 

 Catawbas and others, as follows: I had the ground 

 trenched on which the rows were set, to the depth 

 of two feet, and in the bottom placed stones and 

 brush, then filled in with loam, sand, oyster shells, 

 blacksmith's cinders, bones, ashes, and some well 

 rotted manure. On this bed I planted the roots 

 which were two years from the cuttings. The rows 

 were four and a half feet apart, and the vines nine 

 feet distant from each other in the row. The next 

 day, snow fell four or five inches deep, with a 

 freezing north wind for several days following. 

 The ensuing weeks were remarkable as a time of 

 general deluge in this part of the country, and as 

 luck would have it, this extreme was followed in 

 August, by an extreme the opposite way; for a 

 drought occurred, more severe it is said, than for 

 thirty years previously. But notwithstanding the 

 unpropitious season, eve;ry vine but one survived, 

 and some of them grew to the length of six or 

 seven feet during the summer. Some Isabella 



